In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
A college student tries to get rich quick by wooing two wealthy sisters.
A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies meek bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.
